Natural look coming back in vogue

Orange lips, blue eyelids and green lashes: Ever-changing makeup trends can sometimes call for a rainbow of beauty products. And women’s love affair with the cosmetics colour wheel just might be coming to an end.

“Nowadays, people love to look like themselves — a more beautiful version of themselves, instead of looking like another person,” Harvey Tsao, the Asia/East international makeup artist for the family-owned luxury beauty brand Chantecaille, says of the shift toward more subtle makeup. “That inspires me.”

Tsao, who was in Vancouver at Holt Renfrew last week to celebrate the launch of the New York City-based company’s new Rose de Mai Cream and to teach a master class to local beauty fans, chatted with The Sun about his beauty inspiration, Asian versus Western makeup trends and the best beauty advice he has ever received.

Q: How did you get into beauty?

A: When I was young I was always into skin care and cosmetics. I would steal my mom’s skin care products to use them and I was always intrigued by the ingredients. It always amazed me how ingredients could work so well. So I always studied ingredients to see what they do and I did a lot of research. That lead me down my own path and into the cosmetic industry in 1997, and I began working with Chantecaille in 2000, which is almost 14 years ago on and off.

Q: What is your role at Chantecaille?

A: I train people in different fields including customer service, facial and makeup techniques and product knowledge. I do training in Asia including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea.

Q: What is your favourite part of your job?

A: I like inspiring people. And when I learn something new and then teach it and they can actually make use of it — I’m happy with that.

Q: You’re celebrated for you ability to create natural, age-appropriate looks for all women? Why do you think people have taken note of natural makeup?

A: I have always found that women are more beautiful by themselves. They don’t need a lot of makeup. It is better to have minimal just to enhance their look. I probably found it on Asian people and that is what inspired me on Western people too. What I find is that Asian people can’t really use a lot of colour, so that is why (their makeup) is typically minimal, but it can also help to enhance their features. With eyes you can do a stronger liner but you should try to keep it to lighter colours. I find that Western people love to have a lot of colours on and they sometimes overdo it.

Q: What is your least favourite beauty look?

A: Sometimes people try to do crazy looks with very strong eye makeup and I find it very amazing and beautiful, but it’s not suitable to wear it on the street. Maybe on a runway, but definitely not something you would want to go out with. I think what I find is that I always want to help people with a look that they can actually learn and do by themselves at home and look beautiful too. Not something that is like, “wow” but they can’t replicate it at home. That doesn’t make sense.

Q: What is one product every woman should have in her makeup bag?

A: A good lipstick in a pink-red colour, which actually makes your lips look very healthy. I think that is a must because you can go out without makeup, but never without lipstick. Lipstick makes a (big) difference.

Q: What is the best beauty you have ever been given?

A: Skin care! As I always, always say to people, skin care is the most important part for everyday. If you want to have a good look with dewy skin and have your makeup go on perfectly, then it’s always about skin care. Take perfect care of your skin and then you will have the perfect look.

Q: What should women do to take “perfect” care of their skin?

A: Basic steps are to cleanse your skin, apply eye serum, face serum, eye cream, face cream and neck cream. That’s it. Do it day and night. I’m a lazy person, I don’t do a lot of masks myself. I know how hard it is when it actually comes to real life and you think, “Oh my God, I have to put this one for 20 minutes” and then do this and that. It takes a lot of time to do that. But, if you can just stick to your daytime regimen and nighttime regimen, it can give you really good skin.

Q: Why is Vancouver such a strong market for Chantecaille?

A: I think it is because of all the amazing products that we have and how they work on customers’ skin. When they use it, they can feel the difference. Although we claim to be all natural-ingredient products, there are a lot of companies claiming to have natural ingredients in their products and (customers find) they are not working, but we are one of the few brands that actually work on your skin. The percentage of ingredients that we are using are between 77 per cent to 99.9 per cent, combined with very high-end technology to make it work better. We use stem cell technology, bio technology and nano technology in the products to make them work better with all the natural ingredients.

Q: What can you share about the new Rose de Mai Cream?

A: It is a new moisturizer that is perfect for (Vancouver’s wet) weather because it has a very light finish but is also very hydrating. It has dual hydration, which means it is an intelligent morning cream that will teach your skin to protect, repair and hydrate itself. It teaches your skin to reactivate the recycling system in your cells. It’s something that is very new to the market.

Q: Finally, after more than 14 years in the industry, what keeps you inspired?

A: I think it’s the brand that keeps me inspired — and the Chantecaille family. They are amazing people who really take good care of the company and the people who work for them. The philosophy that they have and the philanthropic projects they are involved with amaze me. I am an animal person, I love animals and I know that there are a lot of animals that need help, and Chantecaille is helping give a voice to the animals that can’t speak for themselves. (A portion of the sale proceeds from several of the brand’s products go to various wildlife charities.) The philosophy behind it is that we take resources from nature to make us beautiful and we have to find a way to give it back in order to balance it out. It’s such a small company and such a big vision that keeps me inspired all the time.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.